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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Northstar Systembuilt Ready to Expand into New Factory

Northstar Systembuilt, headquartered in Marshall,
MN will move its manufacturing business to Redwood Falls, MN
in June, once an existing warehouse facility in town is remodeled into an
assembly-line space.

Last year Northstar Systembuilt met with city
officials about buying property in the industrial park on the north side of
town. The company’s goal: build a new, 36,000 square foot facility for building
housing modules, bringing at least another 15 highly-skilled jobs to town.

By June, 2012, everything was all arranged, and the tax
abatement was approved by the city council — then the project didn’t happen.

Not to worry. It turns out Northstar Systembuilt found a
better solution to its needs: an existing warehouse that formerly housed
several other businesses.

“Our current plan is to start moving in on June 17,” said
Rick Zitzmann, director of Northstar Systembuilt. “We found an existing 53,000
square foot space that was larger than what we had originally planned.”

One reason for the change was Northstar’s changing their
business model.

“We’re going to be targeting the hospitality industry rather
than single family dwellings,” said Zitzmann. “We’ve just finished building a
154-room motel in North Dakota,
and are currently building a 216 unit building. Much of the equipment we need
is already in the existing building,” including a crane system, and required
insulation pumps and blowers.

The current plan is to fill the facility with a U-shaped
assembly line with 11 stations, with room to add later if necessary.

Northstar Systembuilt was founded in Marshall in 1995, and is still based there. However,
the current plan is to move the entire business to RedwoodFalls,
along with all employees. “Our staff will be moving with us; they’re currently
looking for apartments or rental units,” said Zitzmann.